"If you want to be close to the people, you have to be part of them." (Paulo Coelho, "Brida")
On a whim I picked up Paulo Coelho's book, "Brida," at the local library, having previously read Coelho's bestseller, "The Alchemist," some ten years ago. I remember "The Alchemist" as somewhat life-shaking. I felt so enthusiastic about the book I bought a copy for my adolescent son, thinking it would assist him in understanding some important life lessons. I don't remember what the lessons were, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Upon some research, I discovered that although he wrote "The Alchemist" first, it wasn't a bestseller until after the publishing of "Brida."
"Brida" is light reading for someone on the path of spiritual awakening who has had teachers of true Traditions. The Celtic rituals present in the book are based on the universally-accepted constructs of Animism, including the presence of ancestors, spirit guides (Teachers) and the Divine Feminine energy. In an attempt to bridge traditions just as he uses "magic to bridge the visible and invisible," Coelho never fully succeeds in connecting Christianity's roots to the Wiccan Tradition's focus on Feminine energy. His "God was a once a woman" and "it was a woman who stayed by Jesus' side" rationale are weak and feel like subterfuge. Coelho investigates astral travel and past lives, and delivers wisdom about the futility of future-telling, because the "choices of the present always effect the outcome of the future." However, the protagonist, Brida, and her male counterpart, the Magus, seem to spend a good part of their time together getting drunk or in pursuit thereof, which seems to wash away the translation and meaningfulness of the intended wisdom.
Despite the disappointing (to this reader) aspects of the spiritual journey, what Coelho especially excels at are insights about Love. Recalling the concept of Soul Mates being part of the same soul which then splits (into male and female incarnations) and goes in search of itself, Coelho concludes that "Love exists in order to find ourselves." He uses deft storytelling to impart gentle reminders that Love, even in its temporal nature, is everlasting. Our memories of Love are imprinted forever in our hearts. Think Shakespeare's Sonnet 116: "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds/Or bends with the remover to remove/O no, it is an ever-fixed mark.../ " These are not new insights, but Coelho presents them in a new way.
Amongst all the spirits, sex and revelry, Coelho is imparting an interesting message which I began this post with. He remains true to the dictum that we are just humans beings on a spiritual path; not spiritual beings in the human realm. The latter distinction is for those on the "other side." As human beings, we act as human beings do, making mistakes along the way, because that is what causes transformation. All the Knowledge in the world only translates to Wisdom - the esoteric Holy Grail - within the framework of transformation. So even though these characters are Teachers and students of spiritual Mystery schools, by having his protagonists act like human beings, Coelho is transforming them. Much more importantly, he is bringing them closer to the reader, not separate or above, which makes us part of this engaging little journey of life. There's something very loving in that gesture.
